


Perpetually Smitten

by SonjaJade



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Gen, Mementos, Moving On, Moving Out, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:35:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24461383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonjaJade/pseuds/SonjaJade
Summary: When moving day comes for Gracia and Elyscia Hughes, Gracia has her doubts about leaving, even though everything about it will better her and her daughter's lives. A lost memento gives her courage, and reminds her of fond memories of her departed husband.
Relationships: Gracia Hughes & Elicia Hughes, Gracia Hughes/Maes Hughes
Kudos: 14
Collections: Moms Made Fullmetal Week 2020





	Perpetually Smitten

**Author's Note:**

> DAY 7: Change, New Beginnings, Farewell

“This should be the last load, Mrs. Hughes,” a man in a grey jumpsuit and navy ball cap says, strapping her emptied china cabinet to a moving dolly. “We’ll break for lunch then get everything to your new home.”

“Wonderful, thank you,” she says with a smile, though nothing about this day makes her happy. Once he’s out of the room, she looks around her. The flat she’d set up with Maes was completely empty, stripped of the memories she’d been desperately trying to keep alive the past eight years.

Her fingers touch the plastered wall of the dining room in front of her, painted a soft green. She remembers watching him paint this room, her belly just beginning to show the burden of her pregnancy. “Green’s good for eating!” he’d said. “Makes everything look fresh and tasty!”

As if it had just happened ten minutes ago, she can close her eyes and see him clear as day- paint speckling his hair, smudges of green on an old academy sweatshirt, dirty running shoes covered in dots of the color as well. She can see his grin, the way his eyes twinkled with mischief, always… 

“Mommy,” Elycia says, calling her back from the past. “The men downstairs told me to tell you they’re leaving now and will meet us at the new place in an hour.”

“Thank you.” She meets her daughter in the doorway. “It’s strange with everything out of here.”

But Elysia is smarter than she lets on. “It’s okay to be sad, Mommy. You’ve lived here longer than me and  _ I’m _ even sad. But think of all the good things that are going to change for us! That helps me feel a little better.”

Their new flat is on the second floor, so there’s less stairs to climb. They’ll have a patio balcony, too. It’s much closer to Gracia’s workplace at the accounting office, and a shorter, safer walk for Elysia to school. Everything about this move will better their lives.

But this place is where Maes was. This is the place where he carried her over the threshold after their honeymoon. This is where Elysia was conceived, born, and raised. This is where get-togethers and birthday parties were had. 

Looking toward the window, stripped of the curtains, she sees dust floating through the sunbeams streaming in. Lost in limbo, going nowhere… It’s like looking in a mirror. She knows Maes would be telling her to move on, that he’ll be with them no matter where they go. He wouldn’t want her to linger here in the past.

“I guess it’s time to finally go forward, huh?” she says to no one. Gracia looks around the apartment one last time to be sure they don’t leave anything, and she catches a glint of light deep in the back corner of the hall closet. Kneeling down on the wood floor, Gracia crawls in to see what the item is.

It’s the end of a watch chain, and when she pulls at it, the rest of it comes out. Attached to the end is a compass. On the back is engraved, “Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost; Be safe, love you, Dad”. 

Gracia smiles at the surprise find. When Maes was sent to Ishval, his father gave him this compass in case he ended up out in the desert and needed to get back. He died right after she and Maes married, and her new husband often held the item in his hand, saying when he felt unsure of what to do, he seemed to get some sense of direction from spending some quiet time with it.

“Are you giving this to me?” she asks, not expecting an answer. She looks at the needle and it suddenly moves, pointing right at E for a second, then back to true north. 

When they were courting, Maes would always introduce her to his friends and family as Gracia Smith, “my ‘ever clever’ and ‘endlessly patient’ girlfriend”. When he would leave her notes in the morning before work, he would address them ‘EC’ and sign them ‘PS’- Perpetually Smitten. He was jealous of Roy and his code names and slyness, so the tradition stuck after marriage. The needle pointing at E could also stand for Elysia. Either way, Gracia got the feeling he was talking to her from beyond the grave.

“No longer lost, PS. Thanks for the memento, my love.” She takes a deep breath, gets to her feet and leaves the room, heads to the door, and gives a final glance around her old home. 

“See you at the new place, hon.”

She closes and locks the door, and descends the stairs for the last time.

**Author's Note:**

> THANK YOU SO MUCH to ssadropout and wadiwasiwitch for running another successful Moms Made Fullmetal Week!


End file.
